Lawmakers debate special counsel in IRS probe

5/19/13 11:45 AM EDT

Several members of Congress appearing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” discussed whether the administration’s current attempts to handle the IRS controversy will be enough or if a special counsel is needed.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said the new acting IRS commissioner may be conducting a 30 day, top-down review, but that's simply not enough to tackle what's been happening in the IRS.

“I think a special counsel is going to wind up being necessary,” he said.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), meanwhile, said he doesn’t believe a special counsel is yet needed.

“I don’t see it at this point,” he told ABC host George Stephanopoulos.

Congress “should look legislatively” to see what can be done in the future to prevent similar incidents, he noted.

And Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) called the targeting very “chilling.” This is “just the beginning,” Price said, and “we need to get to the bottom of it.” But Price also added that he thinks it is “premature” to determine whether a special counsel is necessary.

At the end of the panel discussion, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) blasted the GOP take on the IRS targeting, saying “there is no Republican agenda except to stop the president of the United States.”

“It just seems to me there is no evidence that whatever went wrong it was known outside of Cincinnati,” Rangel said. “They should have been better trained to deal with a very sensitive piece of legislation that was abused by the left and the right.”